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Saturday, March 28, 2015

Author Saturday Spotlight: Z.A. Maxfield #Interview #Giveaway

Z.A. Maxfield author of many amazing books and series is my author spotlight this Saturday. To some she is well known. From her St. Nacho's Series all the way to her The Cowboys Series. Her standalone books, Drawn Together, The Long Way Home, Family Unit, and so many more show Z.A's amazing talent and ability to always remain creative.

Z.A. Maxfield has SO MANY books out there you could spend an entire year just reading her work alone. I can't highlight every one of her books but here are a few:

Choose your weapons.

Jae-sun
Fields is pissed. Someone has taken the seminal coming-out,
coming-of-age novel Doorways and satirized it. He's determined to use
his Internet skills and his job as a tabloid reporter to out the author
as the fraud and no-talent hack he's sure she is.

Kelly Kendall
likes his anonymity and, except for his houseboy, factotum and
all-around slut, Will, he craves solitude. There's also that crippling
case of OCD that makes it virtually impossible for him to leave the
house. He's hidden his authorship of Doorways behind layers of secrets
and several years' worth of lies--until he loses a bet.

Satirizing
his own work, as far as he can see, is his own damned prerogative.
Except now he has an online stalker, one who always seems several steps
ahead of him in their online duel for information.

A chance
meeting reveals more than hidden identities--it exposes a mutual
magnetic attraction that can't be denied. And pushes the stakes that
much higher, into a zone that could get way too personal...

Jeff Paxton came home
from Afghanistan looking for roots. Instead his pregnant sister talks
him into a job babysitting the volatile megastar Nigel Gasp. Nigel is
stubborn, needy, and determined to be the center of attention everywhere
he goes. Before long, Jeff realizes that something is bothering Gasp,
and that keeping him out of trouble might be more difficult than he
thought.

Nigel never planned on getting old. He simply assumed a
hard drinking, hard partying lifestyle would take care of that. Now that
he's turning forty, he's depressed and a little bit desperate. To
Nigel, forty seems like a fine age to deposit his DNA and check out
while he's still on top.

The last thing Jeff needs is to fall in
love with Nigel Gasp. The last thing Nigel expects is a whole new reason
to live. But how can Jeff put down roots with a man who is never in the
same place twice?

Love can be shocking. Gasp!

Dare Buckley has come
home—or at least, he’s come back to Palladian, the small town he left as
a teenager. After a major lapse in judgment forced him to resign from
the Seattle PD, Palladian is the only place that’ll hire him. There’s
one benefit to hitting rock bottom, though: the chance to investigate
the mystery of his father’s suicide.

Dare also gets to
reacquaint himself with Finn Fowler, whose childhood hero worship ended
in uncomfortable silence when Dare moved away. But Finn isn’t the same
little kid Dare once protected. He’s grown into an attractive, enigmatic
stranger who neither wants nor needs what Dare has to offer.

In
fact, Dare soon realizes that Finn’s keeping secrets—his own and the
town’s. And he doesn’t seem to care that Dare needs answers. The
atmosphere in Palladian, like its namesake river, appears placid, but
dark currents churn underneath. When danger closes in, Dare must pit his
ingenuity against his heart, and find his way home the hard way.

Cooper has spent the
last three years running from a painful past. He's currently moving from
town to town, working in restaurant kitchens, and playing his violin
for tips. As soon as he starts to feel comfortable anywhere—with
anyone—he moves on. He's aware that music may be the only human language
he still knows. Ironically, the one man he's wanted to communicate with
in all that time is deaf.

Shawn is part of a deaf theater group
at the nearby college. Shawn wants Cooper as soon as they meet and he
begins a determined flirtation. Cooper is comfortable with down and
dirty sex, just not people. As far as Shawn is concerned, dirty sex is
win-win, but he wants Cooper to let him into the rest of his life as
well.

Cooper needs time to heal and put his past away for good.
Shawn needs to help Cooper forgive himself and accept that he can be
loved. Both men find out that when it comes to the kind of healing love
can bring, the sleepy beachside town of Santo Ignacio, “St. Nacho's” as
the locals call it, may just be the very best place to start.

You are a very eclectic writer in
this genre. Literally something for everyone. Is there any topic/subject matter
that you've written about that you've favored, in your books?

I have a great fondness for family
stories, and stories with quirky side characters. I spent a lot of time finding
a comfortable niche, and while I really enjoy writing dark, angsty vampires, I
think the light humor and fun of a suburban family going through the normal
process of learning to get along works for me very well.

You wrote Hell on Wheels (Book 3
in the Bluewater Bay Series) How hard, different, interesting is it to write a
series like this with SO many writers involved? Especially when there's mention
of all of them throughout the series.

That was a fascinating experience. I
love all my fellow writers in the series, both as authors and personally. It
was tremendous fun to be a part of such a diverse and powerful group. There’s a
basic story bible, and we added our characters, settings, and businesses as we
went along. I couldn’t have done it without my editor Sarah Frantz.

And also, big kudos to Chris Muldoon,
an internet friend since my Crossing Borders days, who is now an editor at
Riptide. She is keeping track of every pertinent detail. She’s amazing.

Are you attending GRL this year,
and if so what are you most looking forward to?

YES! I will be going to GRL. I’m most
looking forward to the venue, the Bahia, which is beautiful. I also look
forward to driving, and not flying, which means I can bring as many pairs of
shoes as I want… YAY!

I’m also looking forward, as always,
to seeing my writer friends and treating all our readers to an excellent time.

When in your life did you know
that you wanted to be a writer?

I wanted to be a writer before I
could physically write. I used to draw complicated Halloween (my favorite
holiday) stories. Witches on brooms with cats and pumpkins having spooky
adventures. It was thrilling to be a maker of stories, even when I didn’t have
the tools.

Is there any subject you refuse to
ever write about or address?

I suppose that my taboos are the same
as most publisher taboos. I won’t write rape-as-titillation, bestiality, etc.
The sketchy one that my fellow writers tease me about is twincest. I have twin
boys, and while I can—maybe—see the allure of being the filling in a gorgeous
twin sandwich, since I’m a twin mom, I can’t help but extrapolate that to my
own boys. NO. NOPE. NYET. NO!

You are an icon in this genre and
there are new authors being born everyday. What can you tell them that can help
them starting out? What advice can you give them that you wish someone had
given you?

Icon??? Pffft. I can’t wait to tell
my kids you said that. They’ll smile over their Costco meatball rice bowls (the
ones they heated themselves because I’m busy writing) and talk about those long
ago days when I wasn’t a writer and our life was pretty much exactly the same…

The best advice I can give any writer
is: Write like the wind. There has never been a better time to be a writer. You
have the Internet. You have many, many avenues of publishing that were either
non-existent or closed to you just ten years ago. You have endless free
information on craft, on querying, on publishing, on marketing. Go forth!

Believe in yourself. It’s possible to
get paid--even while you’re still learning your craft--in this environment. I’m
not saying just sling any old story out there, but don’t be afraid to submit
your best work and cross your fingers. You’re learning. You’ll learn. No one
ever looks back on their first book and says, I was the best I’ll ever be,
right there. (But you’ll probably have been the most enthusiastic, so enjoy that,
while you have it.)

Submit today’s best work for feedback
from editors, agents, and knowledgeable friends.

Keep writing. Writing and learning,
and tomorrow’s work will be better.

But at the same time, guard your
optimism. Don’t listen to naysayers. Enjoy the journey. Make each word count.
Before you release your work into the world, ask yourself, does this story make
me happy?

If it makes you happy, then you
haven’t lost a thing if it doesn’t sell. The next one will. Or the next. Or the
next. Keep going. Keep growing. Go forth!

When you're hit with a plot bunny
what's the first thing you do?

I generally try to write down the
bare bones of the idea, either on my phone or some kind of notebook. Cocktail
napkin. I can flesh it out later.

Can you tell us about your future
projects?

I’m working on finishing up the
projects that I’ve started, I have a third book in the vampire trilogy to
write, and then the third book in the crime scene clean up stories. After that
I’ll be free to just enjoy new ideas. I plan to dream up something really huge.

Also, I’ve wanted to tell Bill
Fraser’s story (from Home the Hard Way.) It seems to me he needs a story.

I know your time is limited, with
writing and all, but what books have you read recently that you would
recommend?

I’m always reading. I tell writers
they should write until they hit the wall every day, and then read for down
time. Lately in m/m I’ve very much enjoyed Charlie Cochet’s Thirds series, and
anything by Jordan Castillo Price, Rhys Ford, Belinda McBride, James Buchanan,
Josh Lanyon, Alex Beecroft, Charlie Cochrane, Harper Fox, gosh, the list is so
very endless I can’t think of everyone right now. I’m sure I missed a bunch of
people I read ALL the time.

In suspense I like Harlan Coban, Tami
Hoag, Lisa Scottoline. I’ve been reading Darynda Jones. Gail Carriger seems to
have a new series out and I enjoyed her parasol protectorate. I love Laura
Kinsale. She’s my all time favorite romance author.

How can your fans follow you and
your projects?

You can always subscribe to my
newsletter, which you can do at my website (there’s a signup on every page I
think, except the landing page) here:

I’m @zamaxfield on twitter, and I’m Zam Maxfield on facebook. My author page is under ZAMaxfield on Facebook. Get
in touch. Stay tuned. I have lots of new things coming this year.

I can't thank Z.A. Maxfield enough for this amazing interview and of course this giveaway. 3 ebooks, 3 winners. Very exciting! The contest will run until April 3rd. Winners will be notified via email (so check your spam) Good luck to you all, thank you Z.A. and all of you be sure to check out her work, you won't be disappointed but you will be entertained!

I've read so many of your boos, Ms Maxfirld! Love the St.Nachos series and the Crossing Borders series. But my favorite is Drawn Together. Hmm...it may be time to re-read it again! Thanks you both for a great interview!

I like contemporary, cowboys, and paranormal, really there aren't many kinds of books that I don't like to read. Miltary or ex-military MCs are another favorite. I really want to read the re-released Deep Desire by ZA Maxfield as well as most of the ones above. I haven't read too many of her books yet, but what I have read I loved. Thanks for the interview and giveaway chance!

I like to read all type of books. Not really into historicals anymore. After reading a lot of those over 30 years they don't hold my interest YA, NA, Contemp, Paranormal, Sci-fi, Fantasy. My favorite book by ZA Maxfield is Crossing Borders. Love that book. Thanks for the interview

I like all sorts of books but i love to read about Cowboys, Firefighters, Cops (I think i have something with men in uniform). I also like to read books with a disability theme. I want to thank you for this interview and the great giveaway!